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General Atlantic (GA) has expanded its investment team in India with several new hires, underscoring the firm’s strategy to pursue growth equity investment opportunities in India and South East Asia.

Under the leadership of Sandeep Naik, who joined the firm as a managing director and head of the firm’s Mumbai office in late 2012, GA’s India team now includes eight full-time investment professionals and two advisory directors, said the company.

In addition to Naik, new members of GA’s team in India include Shantanu Rastoogi, as principal and Vijay Venkat and Varun Talukdar, both as associates. Existing senior team members Ranjit Pandit and Abhay Havaldar have both been named advisory directors, and will continue to be involved with GA’s portfolio companies in an advisory capacity.

“As an important high-growth economy, India will continue to be a core element of General Atlantic’s strategy of investing in growth companies around the world,” said William Ford, CEO of General Atlantic, who is visiting India this week.

“GA is active in several Indian sectors opening up to new investment, including financial services, healthcare, technology, business services and consumer retail. We also see attractive investment opportunities arising from the rapid growth of the emerging middle class,” he added.

Naik said GA’s evergreen fund structure gives it the flexibility to hold investments much longer than traditional private equity firms allowing it to help build value and manage through market volatility.

Naik was previously a partner and co-head of the India office for Apax, leading investments in the healthcare, financial & business services and retail & consumer sectors. He has both led and participated in a number of investments including Apollo Hospitals, Spectrum Labs, Esprit Pharma and Xanodyne. He also served as a director of publicly listed Apollo Hospitals.

General Atlantic manages approximately $17 billion and invests between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per year in growth companies globally. Since it opened an investment advisory office in Mumbai in 2002, General Atlantic has invested about $1.2 billion in Indian firms including its most recent partnership with Fourcee, a logistics company, and IndusInd Bank. Its other current and prior portfolio companies include Genpact, Mu Sigma, National Stock Exchange (NSE), InfoTech, IBS Software Services, Jubilant and Patni.